I found it ironic just as I started this piece, I received an error message suggesting I refresh my connection with LinkedIn.
Truly amazing to have connectivity problems with a site called “LinkedIn.”
I suppose I can no longer link in to LinkedIn.
It’s a pity.
This post may not make it to LinkedIn and that’s alright.
Why?
Because you really aren’t staying connected when you connect to LinkedIn–whether it be via a blog post or just to say hi to the guy you’ve never met in person that wants to pitch you over the phone at a time that’s convenient to you. All you have to do is let them know when that is.
We take our online connectivity for granted until it does not connect. Or it gives you an error message like the one I just received.
After spending Thanksgiving largely off the grid (I drifted in between zero and one bar for the duration of the time we were there (Wed-Fri), I’ve come to the conclusion that staying connected online is best done in moderation.
It’s not like a neighbor you haven’t seen since the last time you brought your trash to the curb, and you strike up a quick how’re you doing conversation. And then you’re done being connected.
The online world is dominated by huge, valueless stretches of websites that promise everything from losing weight to gaining weight to making money to not needing to make much money in order to be happy.
And don’t get me started on how you can be happy being online a lot of the day and night.
Your body ends up rebelling on you the more you stay online.
Having not stared at a screen since last Tuesday, I can safely say I feel the difference in the number of aches and pains my body tells me about daily. They’ve been replaced by the goodness that is living in the way we humans were meant to.
Being either linked in or on LinkedIn is not how we’re supposed to live, either.
I’m not suggesting we go back to cooking over fireplaces.
Nor am I recommending we give up the Internet entirely.
What I am proposing is for you to try leaving the Internet alone for enough time each day so that you may be treated to less painful joints as a result of living more in the electronic world than not.
Yes, I am blogging on a Chromebook now. But I’ve spent enough time away from it that this teeny tiny post does not even begin to restore the levels of ache my neck experienced by the end of the work day.
I do try to moderate everything as best I can, as that is really the key.
All things in moderation is a good goal to try and achieve.
I understand it isn’t always possible.
Experts in ergonomics speak of balance as do yoga instructors.
I strive for creative balance and minimal pain.
I started this missive while the sun was still high enough in the sky.
Before I began, my better half and I had a brief discussion regarding the merits of disconnecting your garden hose in the winter time, even if you have a frost-free spigot.
The temperatures have started dribbling down to the mid-forties and still I type on.
The Chromebook appears no worse for the wear.
My typing begins to slow, however as Mother Nature forces her steely way inside me.
I wonder who’s reached out to me on LinkedIn.
I must reconnect.
I must make it brief.
This is life almost off the grid.
And it shall not be the death of me.